Battlefleet Gothic

[undercovergeek]

Tonight the Sword of the Emperor sails into the Void.

TREMBLE HERETICS!

The might of the Sine Alique Legion will be unleashed and it will be terrible to behold.

will there be underwear?

[Jarhead0331]

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Stellar Code-98475023-Transmission Sector Nullifcarnum-Secure Classification-36449257

Beta is LIVE biatches!!!!

LONG LIVE THE EMPEROR

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[Tpek]

+++++Transmission Begin+++++

Stellar Code-98475023-Transmission Sector Nullifcarnum-Secure Classification-36449257

Beta is LIVE biatches!!!!

LONG LIVE THE EMPEROR

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Eagerly awaiting your impressions.

[Cyrano]

Were there underwear, what would be terrible to behold?

[Jarhead0331]

I'll start by saying the atmosphere is great. It totally oozes WH40K. I like the strategic options which include moving your fleet from planet to planet in the Gothic sector and upgrading and modifying your ships at the Port of Maw. Everything from defenses, to weapons, to engines to crews can be improved and/or buffed, so they have done a good job letting the player tinker with the ships in the fleet.

I'm sort of on the fence with combat though. So far it doesn't seem terribly interesting. I've only played 3 of the campaign prologue missions, but so far there does not appear to be any movement in the z-axis. This looks like yet another space combat game stuck on a 2D plane.  Additionally, most fights seem to end up just being turning fights. The AI seems to just travel in circles around your ships unloading as much firepower as possible. They turn into essentially slugfests. This is ok initially, but I can see it getting old. Even though weapons are positional (ie. forward facing lance weapons and broadside cannons) it doesn't really seem to make much of a difference how you end up positioning your vessels. They've done a commendable job by adding options that would seem to increase the tactical opportunities, such as boarding parties, teleportation deck strikes, emergency power for evasive maneuvers, and the ability to target select ship components, etc., but so far none of this seems to have made much of a difference to the outcome.

For WH40K fans, I'd say its a no brainer, but for everyone else, you might want to wait and see. More impressions will follow.   

[mirth]

Nice job with the first impressions, JH  O0

[Cyrano]

Through the intro campaign and after a couple skirmishes:

1.  JH is spot on re: theme.  This one nails the 40K universe and particularly the background to BG better than most I can recall.  Voice acting is quite good and I like what I've seen of the "story so far".  Transformation of your captain into an admiral -- entirely in cut scene -- is nicely horrific.

2.  2D combat -- I think they were trying to get the TTG feel into the game and that was 2D.  It certainly costs on other fronts but, as was the case on the tabletop, it certainly simplifies mechanics.

3.  RTS -- OK, here's where much more play will be needed.  Me, because I'm of the generation that prefers such things, I would have much rather this be a TBS.  I realize that's unlikely, but I certainly would have rather.  Not getting this, I would have preferred a game paced a smidge more slowly than BG is.  Don't get me wrong, it's not a frenzied click-fest, but, when you've got a lot going on -- and multiple ships to try and command -- you will reach for the space-bar slow-down that's available in single player but not on-line.  I think there is some fun stuff going on under the hood with forward-lasers versus broadside weapons and the like, but it could prove hard to get at at current speeds.

4.  I want to see the rest of the content.  Only Imperial and Chaos ships are playable in the BETA, although the look at the Orks in one of the early scenarios is delightful.  They've certainly also left open the door for DLC -- even some ships and factions that GW never quite got around to finishing when it shuttered BG.  As JH indicates, there looks to be a lot of opportunity for customization, but, going to #3 above, I hope it won't prove irrelevant at the pace of battle.

It's a BETA so, as they warn you on the tin, everything's subject to change and I assume the changes will be many.  That said, I like it and I have no regrets on buying in early...

[JasonPratt]

To JH's first impressions I would only add that you can operate outside the Gothic sector -- the third mission (against Ork pirates) is in... frankly I didn't recognize it, sorry not lore'd enough. The next sector outward from the core. The Eye of Terror naturally is nearby and will probably factor in as an operational sector, too.

The campaign game, so far as the prologue goes, is entirely Imperial Navy. This doesn't bother me, but there are fans pro and con, so...

I haven't tried multiplayer yet, so no comments there.


The interface, and frankly the action, heavily reminds me of Dawn of War 2. I don't think the game can be paused to issue orders, however. The game can be drastically slowed down at any time by tapping the space bar, and this certainly helps. I felt rather overwhelmed by the Ork swarm in mission 3, and indeed tried to quit and reload for a different initial plan (I had honestly forgotten my plan, which was to move the convoy through some handy gas clouds near the map edge.) Whereupon I discovered that in the beta, the campaign does not save. 

[JasonPratt]

Very much early Starfleet Command (without pause to order capabilities) -- agreement?

[Cyrano]

Yep, SFC from that perspective, but...

MP, so far, has been spectacular.  Hooomans are MUCH sneakier and sharper than the A.I.  To the shock of no one.  Battles run less than ten minutes, but the turning battles JH describe vanish into a cut-and-thrust, especially as you begin to upgrade and get some of the special weapons.  One plasma bomb can ruin your whole day, particularly if you're going in for a serious attack run.

It also bear mention that the ships you're allowed to use in the BETA campaign and on-line, at least so far, are on the small end of the spectrum.

[panzerde]

Made it through the campaign missions so far and have to agree with the initial impressions. Really finding it a lot of fun and feels suitably WH40K. A bit faster than I care for these days and I would agree with Jim's desire to have it turn based.

Still, it's very atmospheric and does have a tabletop feel. The ships and effects are really nice. Haven't tried MP yet, but I will soon. Maybe after a couple of skirmishes to learn the ropes a bit more.

[undercovergeek]

id read theres no z axis - to recreate the table top feel

[JasonPratt]

I'm conflicted about that explanation for no z-axis. If they had said, "no z-axis because no human being could manage the fleets in this game with a z-axis," I'd one hundred percent agree with that rationale.

Saying, in effect, "no z-axis because we're trying to recreate a tabletop feel for this real-time clickfest"...  That leads me to conclude it was just simpler not to program a z-axis.

[mirth]

If I wanted a tabletop feel, I'd play the tabletop game.

[Jarhead0331]

I'm conflicted about that explanation for no z-axis. If they had said, "no z-axis because no human being could manage the fleets in this game with a z-axis," I'd one hundred percent agree with that rationale.

Saying, in effect, "no z-axis because we're trying to recreate a tabletop feel for this real-time clickfest"...  That leads me to conclude it was just simpler not to program a z-axis.

I completely agree with this. If they were truly trying to recreate the table top feel, it would be turn-based, or at least real time pausible.